Efficient adsorption of Sb(III/V) by zirconium-functionalized cellulose microspheres and their application in actual underground water of mine cavern.

At present, with the mining of antimony, highly toxic antimony has seriously threatened the safety of water sources and jeopardized human health. It remains a challenge to create adsorbents that are easy to separate, efficient and have high adsorption capacity. In this study, the zirconium-functionalized MCC microspheres (MCC-g-GMA-IDA-ZrOCl) have been successfully synthesized using radiation grafting technique and applied for Sb(III/V) capture. Batch systematic adsorption experiments indicate that the experimental data for Sb(III/V) conform to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with Langmuir maximum adsorption capacities of 56.25 mg/g (Sb(III)) and 240.96 mg/g (Sb(V)), respectively. Combining XPS and FTIR characterization with experimental data, it is reasonable to assume that MCC-g-GMA-IDA-ZrOCl removes antimony from aqueous solutions by ligand exchange, electrostatic attraction and surface complexation mechanisms. Column experiments demonstrate that MCC-g-GMA-IDA-ZrOCl selectively traps Sb(III/V) in underground water of mine cavern. Through the above adsorption performance tests, MCC-g-GMA-IDA-ZrOCl is expected to treat Sb(III/V) in antimony contaminated groundwater on a large scale in industrial water.